The statements in this section merely provide background information related to the present disclosure and may not constitute prior art.
Currently available coaxial resonators have significant difficulty sustaining operation under high power without the use of high risk and costly break down preclusion techniques. At present, a coaxial resonator often needs to be either pressurized with a gas or be DC biased to avoid breaking down, due to the multipactor phenomenon, when high power is applied to it. The multipactor phenomenon is a secondary electron resonance phenomenon that involves a recurrent RF breakdown of the resonator. More specifically, the recurrent RF breakdown involves the emission of secondary electrons that are stripped off the capacitive portion of the resonator structure, thus rendering the resonator useless, and potentially destroying the resonator.
Typical coaxial resonators used in high power applications often use smooth surfaced cylindrical sections that form electromagnetic field lines of minimal curvature. Such resonators often need to be either gas pressurized or electrically DC biased to prevent them from breaking down under an application of high power. Pressure vessels or auxiliary DC biasing circuitry is therefore needed. Both of these conventional means add additional mass, equipment, complexity and cost to the resonator structure. The need to use a gas pressurized vessel can also inherently add risk to the resonator design and limit its lifetime.